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February 28, 2008

Customer Service As Recession Fighter

Taken from the HP website: "HP today announced the most substantial investment in consumer technical support in its history – the aim of which is to enable people to get faster, more effective help with the HP technology products in their homes."

At a time when the economy is wavering and many companies are retrenching, HP announces a major investment in customer service. They may not be perfect, but here is more evidence that some companies really understand what is happening in the marketplace while others flounder in the evolving, customer-centric world.

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February 27, 2008

On Marketers...And Dinosaurs

I was driving into work this AM listening to WCBS radio in NY (I know... how retro. ;-) There was a story about the number of e-mails that a typical businessperson receives in a day. The point of the story was that if you spent even a nominal amount of time processing each e-mail, it would take about 2 ½ hours a day just to process e-mail.

That got me thinking about the changes in marketing that are on the horizon. The boomer generation of marketers was raised on the philosophy that if you need more awareness, more orders, or more action, simply push out more marketing. We manage daily communications similarly — pushing information (e.g. "e-mail") to colleagues and blithely copying large blocks of people.

The Gen Y/Millennial cohort now entering the workforce has been raised differently. They eschew e-mail in favor of self-service, permission-driven social networks. They tune out irrelevant marketing. They tell manufacturers how to market instead of passively absorbing what the company chooses to spit out. They collaborate with peers. Welcome to new world of communications.

The implications of this psychology and behavioral change are immense. My company lives in the B2B world and we see the growing need for a whole new way for companies to interact. Dealers don't have time to read all the "noise" they receive from the manufacturers they represent. Salespeople can't spend 10 hours a week in training to learn increasingly arcane product features. In short, the philosophy of B2B communications must change in the same ways that B2C communications have already begun to change. But marketers have never been known as the most adaptive of species, and this change does not come easy for most companies.

My advice? The next time you prepare to send an e-mail, or approve that new mailer or ad, think hard about the changes happening around you. Do your actions account for new media, new strategies and new organizational behavior? Change happens by slowly modifying behavior on the thousands of small decisions you make daily, not just the big, high-profile ones.

Of course, you could just continue "business as usual" ... and reserve your place in the same hall as T-Rex.

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February 10, 2008

New Expectations: HP's IdolHands Contest

By now, most marketing excutives have heard about the short-tenure woes of the CMO in many organizations. In an article in The McKinsey Quarterly titled "The Evolving Role of the CMO" there were some interesting insights into the trends that are makig the job so difficult. One insight I thought was really relevant was how today's marketing executive must manage a rapidly expanding universe of marketing techniques, channels and skills. For example, in media alone the expansion of user-generated content makes traditional approaches to media planning and execution insufficient. Add to that the increasing demand to create immersive engagement in campaigns that create more lasting mindshare and viral extension.

As a case in point, take a look at HP's recently released Idol Hands contest. This is not your typical marketing program. This interactive, user-generated content program supports HP's $3,500 TouchSmart line of touch-screen PCs, billed as "The perfect PC for families looking for an all-in-one touch-screen PC with easy, convenient access to information, family schedules, TV, music, movies and photos."

The campaign is intended to get consumers to upload a homemade video starring their hands. And upload people are! Some of the video are dumb, some quite elegant. All in all, it represents a completely different way of thinking about and using a marketing budget. The concept is engaging, interactive and gets an audience focused on one aspect of the value proposition for the product line. Very clever.

Gotta run, now. I need to get back to editing my submission....I could really use the prize money.

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February 6, 2008

Tactics v. Strategy

It is interesting to observe the evolution in marketing with the proliferation of Web tools. Perhaps a reflection of the market's penchant for sound bites and "snack culture"-style information, there is a not-unexpected obsession with tactics right now. I am amused as companies like HP, Kodak and Xerox pitch their printing customers about Web portals, Personal URLs, VDP campaigns, etc. And while everyone talks about "integrated campaigns", precious few agencies, consultants and customers are really executing on the word "integrated." Single function companies in the e-mail, personal URL or Web portal space all focus on their single capability...pitching them relentlessly to prospects desperate to find a magic bullet for their marketing programs.

My advice to everyone...don't obsess over tools. Perhaps more than ever in the marketing business, strategy matters. It is really easy to spend (waste?) a lot of money on pieces of marketing. However, the battle for customer mindshare is much more cerebral today. It takes time and effort to really sift through goals and objectives, a target market profile, then match those with the tools and creative programs to create real success.

While markets are evolving faster than ever, some principles of advertising have not changed...Think First. Act Second.

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February 5, 2008

Observations On SuperDuper Tuesday.

Seth Godin gets kudos today for posting "Lessons From Voting." Worth reading...but I would like to add a few more:

1. Voting is a lot like buying a product. If you invest a lot in the purchase, you feel really unhappy if you get a lemon. Only in purchasing, it is easier to return a lemon.


2. If you don't own something, you shouldn't criticize it...you can't know the experience. The same thing goes for voting. If you don't vote, you don't get to complain non-stop for the next four years.


3. Are you as uncomfotable as I am with the amount of money being spent on marketing the candidates? Is this what our founding fathers really wanted?


4. Whoever first coined the term "SuperDuper Tuesday" should be exiled to someplace like Iran. Even a TV talking-head should be able to do better than that.


5. Whoever dreamed up the standardized-test-like, fill-in-the-circle-with-a-Number-2-pencil-ballot should be exiled to someplace like Iran for bringing back creepy memories of school.

Happy voting.

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SuperBowl Advertising Hangover

Like many people in the marketing business, I watch the ads as much as the game. Here is my day-after-the-day-after response to some of what I saw:

1. Is it just my opinion, or was the quality lower than ever?


2. GoDaddy: WTF? I know it got 2 million hits, but I think it is evidence that we are helping accelerate the decline of civilization if that qualified as brand development.


3. Dell: Since I am a B2B guy, I can't resist saying...huh? If all it takes to get the unadulterated adulation of thousands of people is carrying a red computer, count me in. Oh yeah...the Product(Red) thing. I actually had my company distribute Product(Red) holiday cards this year so I get it...but how many of those 97 million eyeballs did???


4. Audi: First SB ad in 20 years. Should have made it 21. If you are under 50, the Godfather thing was not relevant. For many others, it was not clear. BTW...it is scoring well, so I guess I am just not hip.


5. Doritos: The giant mouse whaling on the guy was funny...and oddly violent for Doritos. Sometimes, user-generated content reflects my earlier comment about the decline of civilization.


6. Bud Light: OK, it was sophmoric, but "Breathing Fire" made me laugh. Still won't be buying BL, but I did laugh.


7. CareerBuilder: Hopefully they can help the creatives at W&K land new gigs.


8. SalesGenie: Vin Gupta...don't leave your day job. BTW, I think there ought to be a law against selling mailing lists as "leads." The names on those lists typically don't want to hear from you, don't want to buy from you, and certainly would not want to have a drink after work with you.

I really am not a curmudgeon, but if what I saw represents the pinnacle of American advertising art, it is time for some change in the industry.

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February 3, 2008

ComScore Internet 2007 Report Released

ComScore has released its 2007 Internet Year-in-Review report highlighting the major trends in U.S. Internet activity.

No surprise...Google is even more powerful at the end of 2007 than it was starting the year. Women's communities showed major growth as a category, and Office Max's powerful year-end viral ElfYourself campaign drew so much traffic it launched the company into 3rd position in growth percentage. Now that's a marketing campaign!

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Irrational Exuberance Redux

I was looking at the cost-per-click for some B2B categories the other day..."data center" top position was running over $20.00.

Huh? Maybe I don't get it, but this is a "click" folks. I do agree that SEM is a powerful and necessary tool, but paying that high a number on a general term seems over the top, especially based on what the click-thru links were on some of the top sites.

Some thoughts:

1. If you are going to pay a high click value, make the landing page really relevant and highly actionable. Content is king and the reader better know exactly why you brought them to your site within 3 seconds


2. Evaluate your broad marketing strategy. While SEM is targeted and "laser-like", it remains only one part of a broader strategy. Over-reliance on any one part of a solid marketing campaign can lead to expensive disappointment.

Repeat after me...content is king. If you aren't ready to pay off a SEM click with good content, there are probably cheaper methods for generating broad awareness on a CPM basis.

It remains amazing, but not surprising, how history repeats itself when marketers hear about a new technique that will deliver the "mother-of-all-lead-generation-programs."

Posted by jcioban at 11:36 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

February 1, 2008

Surfing Innovation. Cool, Dude.

Great blog posting by consultant John Hagel in his EdgePerspectives blog. The piece, titled "Innovating on the Edge of Big Waves," talks about what business executives can learn from surfers.

I found several of the points especially valuable:

1. If you want to push your performance levels, find the relevant edge. The example "companies making diesel engines and power generators should be actively engaged in finding ways to more effectively serve lower income customers in remote rural areas of emerging economies. These demanding customers could prompt significant innovation in both product design and distribution processes in an effort to deliver greater value at lower cost."


2. Bring technology developers and users together at the edge. Commonly discussed but less commonly practiced...no one knows better how to innovate than users forced to operate under challenging conditions.

Worth the time to read...worth even more time to think about how it could be applied to business situations you face in your company.

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A Super Slide To Irrelevance?

Ahhh, February 1. It's spring again…for the ad business at least. It seems with the impended airing of the world's last great eyeball aggregator -- a.k.a. The Super Bowl -- there is a flurry of focus on the world of Madison and Vine. YouTube, www.superbowl-ads.com, AOLSports ... even Spike TV ... everyone is already set to post those treasured spots for viewing by millions of people on their computers and portable devices. And for one day, marketers willing to spend millions can have a shot at influencing vast numbers of TV viewers with a single 30-second spot. How retro.

Thus, it is with some irony that 2008 brings the confluence of the Super Bowl overlaid upon the continuing writers' strike -- an ongoing nightmare that has people seriously considering what the long-term impact of the strike will be on TV viewership. What was once idle speculation is becoming the fodder for many blog postings. As early as November 2007, TechCrunch speculated that the strike was an opportunity for millions of online properties to blossom. Now, three months later, that posting seems prescient.

In fact, TV does not just go away. Instead, it will transform as the world of analog, unidirectional, broadcast television morphs into a digital, bidirectional, immersive medium. The nature of shows will change as viewers adapt to the capabilities of the new medium. But, as the strike wears on and the YouTubes continue to garner more clicks, with once loyal viewers begining to experience the options available to them, the nature of TV is getting a little nudge toward its future -- like it or not. And if you're a CMO used to leveraging television as a foundation for marketing your wares, I would suggest you are getting a little nudge too.

BTW...those crazy advertisers...all those YouTube, AOL, Spike, etc clicks are rapidly turning their media buy into something that looks a lot more logical, huh?

Happy Super Bowl viewing!

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